I'm sorry if I made things too confusing (well, Marengo, you were asking for it ... I'm really pleased by your keen interest in Portuguese history...) , but there are certain things that can only be understood, if we know what is behind.
Anyway, as my English is awful, tell me if you couldn't understand it al all...

As you can see, the current Duke of Bragan&#231;a is an active member of several organisations with ecological objectives and working for the preservation and dissemination of the history and cultural heritage of Portugal throughout the world. All these activities are developed however in a discreet way, in respect to the republican institutions (e.g., he collaborates with the governments, in particular with the Ministry of the Foreign Affairs, concerning visits to those countries which Portugal may have more distant relations with). That is perhaps why, in spite of we being a country with strong republian ideals, the Duke of Bragan&#231;a is respected and, to proove it, there's his wedding , which was turned into a State event...

Quote:

Do they still play a role in portagal. Wear do they live, did they get to keep the jewels?

All the royal wealth (including the jewels) were nationalized, after the proclamation of the Republic. The royal family now lives in a house in Sintra (outskirts of Lisbon) - see the photos posted in page nr 5 and page nr 6.

I am Portuguese and am very proud of my roots, and of our history, expecialy the monarchy. All the pictuers everyone has posted are very beautifull, I do love the older pictuers. I was woundering if anyone had any more old picturs of the royal family pre-1910, and post-1910. I also have a question, its very rare to see HRH Dona Isabel wearing any tiara's, aside from the tiara she wore on her wedding day are there any other pictuers of her wearing any other tiara's? Thanx again for anyone that help with the pictures.
Danny S.R.

Here's a pic of HRH the Duke of Bragan&#231;a with Dona Isabel wearing a bandeau-type diamond tiara which may be a convertable necklace.
The photo was taken at one of the celebrations for the Danish Royal Wedding in Copenhagen, May 2004. pic courtesy Getty Images.

Elsa, thank you so much for your elaborate reply to my questions, it is a very interesting post, I am enjoying all the background information you are sharing (I am a history student, so addicted to it), again: thank you very much!

The Duke of Bragan&#231;a participated last Saturday in the III Meeting of the Royal Brotherhood of the Maranho, which made him its Honourable Member. There, Dom Duarte Pio left a donation of € 9.000, for the recovery of the burnt areas in the municipality of Pampilhosa da Serra.

During the Summer of 2005, violent fires had fustigated Pampilhosa da Serra and destroyed more than 18.000 hectares (the equivalent of 2/3 of its forest).

hey elsa thanx for the pics they are very nice. D. Duarte is a very good man always trying to help other but who sometimes is over looked for the good he does, just like the whole thing with Timore Leste. I have a question for you Portuguese members, what are your feelings about the up comeing Presidential elections in Portugal? Also if any of you are suporters of D. Duarte's cause, the royal cause(Causa Real), like I am what do you think are somethings that the Duke and the royal associations do to better promote the cause?

I have have done some research on the whole issue of Dona Maria Pia, and her claim to the thrown. First of all there is no prof that she is in fact daughter of D.Carlos, the name that shows up on the offical, not the altered one, but the offical document of baptisam states her father as Carlos de Borbon, does not say anything of braganca. Also if she is or was infact his daughter then she has no right to claim anything because the constitution at the time did not allow children who were born outside of marrige to claim any titles of the royal family, and of course was not added to the line of sussecion to the thrown. Secound this so called Dom Rosario cant in anyway claim his right as king, first of all he is not in anyway related to Maria Pia, which by the way isnt even her real name, and secound heis not portuguese. The last constitution of the mornarchy clearly states that only a person who is in anyway related to the last king and who is portuguese may claim his/her right to the thrown, he is not related to her, and he is not portuguese. The funny thing is that Maria Pia only made her claim as daughter of D.Carlos after the death of D.Manuel, you would think that if she was so right in what she claim she would have said something before while he was still alive. Clearly that whole thing of Maria Pia and Rosario is all a scam, D.Manuel before is death out down on paper that D.Duarte Nuno and his desendents would be the continuation of the portuguese royal family.

Last January 13th, D. Duarte was the guest of the youth radio show of Antena 3 "Prova Oral". Apparently, it was a very amusing moment, when the Duke was able to demonstrate a terrific sense of humour about himself.

Next February 1st, a plate remembering the regicide of King D. Carlos and Prince D. Lu&#237;s Filipe will be inaugurated at the Pra&#231;a do Com&#233;rcio (Lisboa), around 5:00 o'clock in the afternoon. Later, at 7:00 p.m., a mass will be celebrated in S&#227;o Vicente de Fora with the attendence of the Duke and Duchess of Bragan&#231;a. Finally, the retenue will go to the National Pantheon, where D. Duarte and D.&#170; Isabel will deposit a crown of flowers near the tombs.

thank you elsa for that link. i think he spoke very well, though i think he could have explained better the pros of haveing a king, and not a president. but all in all hespoke very well, andits always nice to hear him speak, i think he has alot of good opinions and views that should be talked about more expecialy in the media so all the portuguese can hear what he has to say.

He played his job; of course that his role is to show that Portugal would be better if it had a king as head of state, instead of a president of the republic. The guideline of all of D. Duarte’s interviews is to underline the fact that the most developed countries in the world are all monarchies (Sweden, Norway, Holland, Spain, England, etc.) and, with this, he tries to infer that if Portugal was a monarchy, we all would be better now... Of course that everybody knows that if Sweden is now the most developed country in the world (and I’m not just talking in economic terms, but essentially in terms of quality of life, education and mentality) this circumstance does not owe to the fact they have a king instead of a president, but to the Scandinavian capability of innovating and broaden their horizons… just like Finland, for example, which is a republic… Well, this leads us to political discussions that are not allowed by our guidelines, but D. Duarte made a good stance, when he demystified the idea that we, Portuguese people, have on that Republic corresponds to Democracy, while Monarchy corresponds to Absolutism. It’s not by chance that this happens, if we think, for example, on the reasons that caused the regicide of king D. Carlos and the subsequent foundation of the Republic... but it is truth that they are different things and today great part of the Monarchies are democratic (and some even more than the Republics).